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The provincial council was discussing the appointment of a new superior.  Among the candidates considered was also Fr. Anil.  He was very hard-working, intelligent, and generous.  But someone pointed out that he was also very “ambitious and power-hungry.”  So, he was not appointed.

Two words that we associate often with a superior’s role are power and authority.    Let us begin by examining power.

The word, “power” comes from the Latin “potere,” which means “to be able.”  Power, basically, is the ability or capacity to do things.  We may consider power both from a personal and interpersonal perspective.  Considered from the personal perspective, power is a person’s physical, intellectual or spiritual capacity to act.  From the interpersonal perspective power is the capacity to influence the behaviour of others.

Five Types of Power

Rollo May, an American psychologist, describes power, from the interpersonal perspective as “the ability to cause or prevent change.”  According to him, power in itself is neutral.  What makes it good or bad is the way it is exercised.

May distinguishes five types of power, depending on the way it is exercised….

Fr Jose Kuttianimattathil SDB

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The ‘candle’ for the first month of 2021 is someone whom God has brought in to heal a seriously wounded nation—a nation that could help or harm the entire world in many ways. The chosen healer is Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., or, more simply, Joe Biden, President-elect of the United States of America.

The most effective healers, we know, are wounded healers. They seek healing passionately, because they know what it means to be wounded.

Joe Biden’s father was a blue collar worker, cleaning furnaces and selling used cars. When Biden was a child, he struggled with a stutter. His classmates mocked him, calling him ‘Joe Impedimenta.’ But he memorized long poems and recited them standing in front of the mirror and eventually managed to overcome the problem. In order to afford the school fees, he cleaned the school windows and weeded the gardens. Therefore, unlike his predecessor—a  billionaire play boy—Biden understands the problems of the poor and the middle class.

Tragedies have taught him patience, hope and strength. He lost his son, Beau Biden, to brain cancer at the age of forty-six. What he suffered when Beau was a little boy looks like a poignant scene in a tragic movie….

Fr M A Joe Antony SJ

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Here are people around us—ordinary heroes—who show us what Christmas is all about. They have lit up many lives. May be, they can light up ours, too.

New Clothes or Charity?

Elsa—name changed—came for the wedding wearing an ordinary sari. Nothing fancy or new. Her relatives commented on this, since most were dressed in expensive clothes. They did not know the reason behind Elsa’s simple way of dressing.

She had made a choice—to give to charity the money she would have spent on a new dress. In fact, last month, she sent Rs 10,000 to a religious order, which was then able to pay that as monthly salary to a teacher.

What makes you happier—an expensive new dress or helping a needy person? What do you tend to do?

“Capuchin Mess”

Have you seen the YouTube video on Capuchin Mess, Kochi? If not, please have a look. The video is made by The Hindu newspaper. As you enter this small eatery, the first thing that strikes you is an old red Post Box.

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Within Church circles, there is a lot of confusion about the nature and function of a Society and Trust. There is also much confusion regarding the status and relationship between the Diocese or Congregation with a Society or Trust.

In this article, I shall deal with three issues: (1) What is a Society?  (2) What is a Trust? and (3) what is the relationship between Diocese or Congregation and the Society and Trust?

1. SOCIETY

A society is basically an ASSOCIATION of persons, who have come together with an intention of being associated with each other, in order to carry out some common objectives. When such an association is registered as a Society under the specific laws of the country, it attains the status of being called a Registered Society. The main characteristic of a society, then, is being an association of persons.

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The insights of this professional layman, who resigned early from his legal firm to do ministry full time together with his wife, may help us to understand the dignity and holiness of EVERY vocation. In India, don’t we use the word “vocation” to refer only or mostly to priesthood and religious life, and “vocation promotion” as the attempt to get more candidates to our religious order or diocese?—Editor

Each time I sit down to write this column, I am aware of the honour and privilege I am being given to share a little of my life with a group of people whom I admire and respect so deeply. You all have chosen to give your lives in service to the Lord and His people and for that I feel a strong sense of gratitude. The deeper I have gone in my faith journey, the more I have come to appreciate those who have shaped me and made it possible for me to find my own way back to the Catholic faith.  I have come to realize that there is little chance that I would be a practicing Catholic today if it wasn’t for the powerful example of the great priests and religious sisters whose lives of dedicated service made an everlasting impression on me. Likewise, impressions of faithfulness provided by my own parents were strong enough to help me to find my way back to faith after years of being seduced by the secular world

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“Covid -19 has really shaken me up,” Elizabeth, a nurse at a COVID-care hospital, reported. “I have been disturbed by so much that I have witnessed—and experienced. I have lost dear ones and colleagues to death. I have experienced firsthand the callousness and cruelty with which especially the elderly sick were treated, simply left to die. What to do? We were just helpless in the face of this deadly virus and the lack of resources to handle it. And the way the dead were disposed of, deprived of any dignity, their dear ones not able pay their last respect, not even able to see them. I have screamed at God in anger and desperation…Why do such things happen?”

Elizabeth is not alone. So many of us, from different walks of life and in different ways, have seen our world come crashing down. Our illusions of safety and security were shattered. COVID-19 has caused massive disruptions and distress in our lives. It is easy to give in to despondency and despair.

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The term needs to be understood correctly. Superiors needs not only legal authority, but also moral authority.

In the award-winning film, Gandhi, directed by Richard Attenborough, there is a scene where Mahatma Gandhi is under arrest and produced before the judge.  As Gandhiji enters the court, there is an expression of awe on the face of the judge and he rises from his chair.  Seeing the judge rise, the entire court stands up, paying respect to Gandhiji.  The judge’s action was a spontaneous response to the authority possessed by Gandhiji. The judge said, with evident admiration for the great man: “It is impossible for me to ignore that you are in a different category from any person I have ever tried or am likely to try…”

What is authority?

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 I am Sr Soja. I belong to a religious congregation caring for the destitute and abandoned.  According to our constitutions, the period of Juniorate lasts six years, which may be extended to nine years according to the judgement of the superior general and council.  But two sisters from my senior batch were posted to a new mission station to be opened in Rome by anticipating their perpetual profession by three months, while others made their profession only after the completion of six years.  This year my brother priest is selected for pursuing PhD in France.  My brother desired to participate in my perpetual profession ceremony.  So, I applied in writing to my superior general requesting to anticipate my profession by four months.  But she did not agree to it.  If they could allow two of the sisters to anticipate their profession, why did they deny the favour for me? Please explain also the importance of the document of the act of profession.

Conditions for a Valid Perpetual Profession

To answer your query, let us look into the canons on the conditions for the validity of perpetual profession.  According to CIC cc. 658, 656 and CCEO cc. 464, 532 and 526, the following are the conditions: 1) that the person should have completed at least twenty-one years of age; 2) there has been previous temporary profession for at least 3 years; 3) that the person has renewed the profession according to the norms of law; 4) the admission has been granted freely and in accordance with the norms of law, by the competent superior after a vote of their council…..

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Have you watched the movie Tuesday with Morrie, or read the bestselling book on which it is based? In it, a retired professor—Professor Morris Schwartz, “Morrie” to his friends—who knows he is going to die meets with a former student to talk about issues that matter—love, family, forgiveness, life, death, … One of the first things Morrie tells the young Mitch is: “When you know how to die, you know how to live.” “Are you going to talk about dying?” Mitch asks him. Morrie: “No! About living!”

Mitch would later write of these encounters as his professor’s last class. In it, he learnt surprising and precious lessons: “I am lucky,” Morrie says one day. “Lucky?” “Ya, I get time to say my goodbyes. Many people do not get that time.”

Another day, Morrie mentions one of his great regrets—having kept anger in his heart, and not having forgiven a friend. “What a waste!” he exclaimed. “Mitch, forgive everybody everything!”

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

This young woman was transformed by the way her sister faced death from cancer.

Not everyone is born a saint. We are not perfect. We desire fame, money and everything that can make us successful in the eyes of the world. We don’t desire death. We programme our mind in such a way that we shut out whatever we fear or don’t want to face or accept. And, when nothing ill-fated happens or when luck is on our side, we try to prolong our happiness and shun all pain, especially the possibility of having to face death. Only a few get the chance or the opportunity to face the reality of death. This comes in the form of sickness, accident and other unfortunate events which have a lasting impact on our lives.

If our life goes too smoothly, we carry on as if we will never die. We would never let the thought of death show its ugly head.  However, when we encounter a life-changing experience, it teaches us to face the reality of death.

That was what happened to me and my family….

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Elena Kharkongor